i dont expect reply from christians here. i need unbiased answers?

Question

how do you look at the Holy Bible or the Holy Scriptures of Christians? Mere piece of literature?

well i stand to be corrected.. to rephrase my question, i just want to know the points of view of non-believers..

Answer 1

Fiction, mainly, but it does hold some historic value.

Answer 2

"i need unbiased answers"

You can't get "unbiased" answers to your question because you are asking people their opinion about a matter and not asking for facts. Before I became a Christian my mother who had long ago fallen away from her childhood Catholic fatith told me the Bible was "a great story book". I didn't think much about it one way or another other than that it was the book that people who went to church read.

Now that I've become a Christian in my later life I've examined the arguments for and against the Bible and even though I'm biased to believe that it is divinely inspired, that doesn't negate the legitimacy of the arguments put forth to support that position.

Here's a link to one treatise on this subject along with the table of contents if you would care to peruse it at your leisure.

http://www.jesus-is-lord.com/divine.htm

The Divine Inspiration
of the
Bible
by Arthur W. Pink

Table of Contents
About This Book

Title

Introduction

Chapter One: There Is a Presumption in Favor of the Bible

Chapter Two: The Perennial Freshness of the Bible Bears Witness to its Divine Inspirer

Chapter Three: The Unmistakable Honesty of the Writers of the Bible Attests to its Heavenly Origin

Chapter Four: The Character of its Teachings Evidences the Divine Authorship of the Bible

Chapter Five: The Fulfilled Prophecies of the Bible Bespeak the Omniscience of its Author

Chapter Six: The Typical Significance of the Scriptures Declare Their Divine Authorship

Chapter Seven: The Wonderful Unity of the Bible Attests its Divine Authorship

Chapter Eight: The Marvelous Influence of the Bible Declares its Super-Human Character

Chapter Nine: The Miraculous Power of the Bible Shows Forth That its Inspirer Is the Almighty

I. The Power of God's Word to Convict Men of Sin.
II. The Power of God's Word to Deliver Men From Sin.
III. The Power of God's Word Over the Human Affections.
Chapter Ten: The Completeness of the Bible Demonstrates its Divine Perfection

Chapter Eleven: The Indestructibility of the Bible Is a Proof that its Author Is Divine

Chapter Twelve: Inward Confirmation of the Veracity of the Scriptures

Chapter Thirteen: Verbal Inspiration

Chapter Fourteen: Application of the Argument

I. We Need to Seek God's Forgiveness.
II. It Is the Final Court of Appeal.
III. It Is the Ultimate Standard for Regulating Conduct.
IV. It Is a Sure Foundation for Our Faith.
V. It Has Unique Claims Upon Us.

Answer 3

I am not sure it is fair to say that Christians are invariably biased. Or that we secularists are unbiased.

The Bible is not merely a "piece of literature." Few pieces of literature have shaped a cultural civilization. But pieces of literature are not merely pieces of literature. Even the most humble are some sort of expression of what is important in our society.

The Bible is sui generis. But this does not mean that I believe it is inspired or infallible or anything other than that it is different than just about anything in the world. Even other religions holy books are not quite like it.

The Bible gets a lot of bad rap on R&S. Some of it, it deserves. Some of it, it does not.

Answer 4

The fact that it is probably the most published book(s) and has survived through the ages would make a logical person think that it is more than a piece of literature. Read it for a while with an open mind. You will either continue reading, or have to put it down. The bible is a two edged sword, it cuts both ways, it both excuses and accuses.

Heb 4:12

For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and (their) marrow and (is) able to discern thoughts and intentions of (the) heart.

Answer 5

I probably could be classified as Christian-but with an addendum. I think the Bible is a book that is supposed to have been written with the guidance of God. A long time ago (I'm 70)-I came to the conclusion that I wanted to be a good person-or at least as I could-under the circumstances. I try not to hurt other people,etc. Truthfully, I dont understand much of the Bible, but it hasnt stopped me from believing in God. I dont really understand all of the arguing about religion. Isnt it up to the individual? As long as a religion doesnt advocate going out and torturing babies, isnt that their business-not mine?

Answer 6

The Holy Bible is a compilation of writings divided into two historical eras. The "old" testament was originally written in Hebrew. The "new" testament was written in Greek.
The first 4 books of the old testament are accepted by the Hebrews, as they are the basis of the Torah. i.e. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.

After the people of Moses' time were taken into safety/exile, to a beautiful land in the middle east, Mesopotamia, in time the priests became afraid of losing the true original faith, culture and language. They decided that collected writings must be put into a book, called holy, and used as a concrete symbol in order to draw their "people" back.
Most stories are also found in older religions than Christian, such as Hebrew and Muslim , for eg) The Flood, prophets, such as Christ, John, and Mohammed.
The new testament was written by prophets, mainly followers of Christ when he was alive, and compiled after Christ's death. As the story goes, both Mohammed and Christ had difficulties passing God's/Allah's message to the people:
(sic)
"You are missing the point! This is what God wants you to believe and follow! Love one another, be kind, accepting, do not kill people! Pray, and wait for the answer! Have faith, but show it in the way you behave, not in the number of objects that you pretend are God. They are not God."

Answer 7

Looks like there are a couple of Christians giving thumbs down to every answer. That level of maturity is to be expected from an intolerant bunch of ignoramuses. The Bible was written long ago to appeal to poor ignorant peasants who thought the Earth was flat and located at the center of the Universe. It was written using very simple concepts that these uneducated and superstitious people could understand and relate to. It was an easy to understand story about how the world and universe came about. They had a very good excuse to believe it. People today, on the other hand, don't have that excuse. They are to be pitied. Their fear of death causes them to cling to anything, regardless of how unlikely, to alleviate this fear, and to explain the unexplainable in terms that their tiny little imaginations can comprehend. It seem like just about any story can be bought, as long as it happened long ago. They are impressed by so called prophets, and the silly predictions that they made. If you ask them to name a prediction that came true, they invariably pick some natural phenomenon that occurs on a regular basis anyway, and try to convince others that this occurrence took place because a prophet predicted it. The Bible is pure fiction. And, it would be nice if these Christians could at least grasp the idea that atheists don’t believe anything in it, and stop pasting unnaturally long quotes from it as though it was an undisputable source of information that proves there side of an issue. Atheists probably know it much better than they do, and have already determined it to be nonsense. I know why they do it. It is because they are trying to defend a book’s content from being discovered as absolute lies. Page after page of supernatural claims that cannot be proved are contained between the covers. Atheists may not know all of the answers, but at least they admit it, and don’t try to fill in the gaps of knowledge with outright lies.

Answer 8

The bible consists of a collection of various pieces of literature, of many different literary styles, written in several different languages, by over 40 different writers, over a period of over 50 human generations, with one central theme, about one central character, and conveying one unified message about a central and singular event in the history of mankind, which has come to pass precisely as it was predicted, and which has subsequently changed the course of humanity.

I challenge anyone (biased or not) to name one other "mere piece of literature" with an authorship and a history like that.

Answer 9

If you only have non-believers answer you still will not get and unbiased response. I don't know that it is possible to have an unbiased oppinion of the Bible. By the way, events in the bible have proved out in historical research.

Answer 10

Depends on your motivation. If you are not Christian, and are not trying to be then just look at it as historical religious writings like the Book of Mormon. I say historical in the religious historical sense.

People who study the bible this way see what it actually says and how the different church doctrine stray away from its teachings and add their own.

For example the baptist mind is made up already so instead of reading it for truth in teaching they study it to prove their doctrine. The Pentecostal will study it to prove pentecostal teaching and ignore anything that the bible teaches that is contrary to their doctrine etc, etc.
BB
BB

Answer 11

The Holy Spirit has to give a person the faith to believe that the Bible is the Word of God.